Road testing the Halti harness

I'd been threatening to get Jamie a
Halti harness for some time. Not that he pulls all the time,
but when we go out for a walk he does have a tendency to pull me down
the hill when we first start off. He never pulls uphill.
Well he wouldn't would he? Anyway, I ordered the harness from Pet
Planet as I couldn't buy one locally. I've used their shop
illustration to show you what it's like as you wouldn't be able to see
the harness against Jamie's black coat. They despatched it very
quickly and the service I've received from them when
ordering other items has been excellent.

There are several ways in which to adjust the
Halti harness so that it fits properly. There is a booklet
enclosed booklet for those who read instructions first. I'm too impatient for that.

The Halti harness works on the same principle as my quick method where you
just put the lead round the dog's chest and use gentle pressure to stop
the pulling. (see Pulling on the
lead) It does work very well but I think it's really important
to make sure that your dog doesn't just have a walk on the harness every
day. They need to be able to let off steam with a good run or at
least have a good wander and a sniff without any restrictions. In my
experience dogs can get frustrated if they're kept under too much control
all the time and then you get unwanted behaviour such as chewing or
barking.

Jamie actually barked in frustration the first time he went out with the harness. I think he felt a bit restricted, but when
he'd had a run and he'd walked home with the lead attached to his ordinary
collar he was fine. The next time we used the harness there was no
problem as he knew he was only going to wear it for the first part of
the walk. All in all we're very pleased with the Halti harness.

How
About the Lead?
I bought a large size Halti training
lead to go with the harness. This has got a clip at either end. You
attach one end to the front of the harness and the other end to the
dog's collar. The lead is very comfortable to hold as it's made of
padded webbing. It also has various rings attached to it which
make it a multi-functional lead. It was so good that as soon as
Sasha came to live with us I bought one for her too. Here's some piccies that show how you can use
the lead. From left to right the pictures show the long lead attached to
a Halti, an easy tie up, doubled up as a short lead, hands free and
walking two dogs on the same lead.

Does it work on a
really strong dog?We haven't tried the Halti harness on a strong puller but we have bought
the Easy Walk for Sasha which is illustrated on the right, and this works really
well.

The Halti Harness and the training
lead are available separately

The Doggie Shop
has a selection
of haltis, harnesses and gentle leaders and you may also find the Halti
Harness on ebay. A couple of live auctions are shown below.

For further articles
on pulling dogs see:Road testing the Easy Walk harness
I bought one of these for Sasha as she can pull for England.
This is the review of how we got on.

Pulling on the leadA no fuss method of dog training that shows a dog that it's possible to walk
on the lead without pulling.